New fish and aquarium store in Fort McMurray

[FMMreefer]

Hello fellow reefers in Fort McMurray. I am currently studying the market feasability of opening a store for us hobbyists locally. With only one store in town selection is limited. Please post your support if you live here.I am also looking out to the business community who may be interested in opening a store in Fort McMurray burn turned off by the cost of doing business here. There may be ways we could together to ease into the area. Please PM me if there is any interest.

[NorthernCoral]

Desperatly needed! There is actually no reef store in town as Northstar pets does not rank amoung the poorest quality of stores in existance. I think if there was a place that would reflect what the hobby is about , there would be alot of newcomers to the reefing community.

[reefgirl189]

I used to live up there for 6 years. The only pet store up there (at the time, I believe there is a dog/cat food/grooming store up there now) was overpriced to say the least. And you know what? That's perfectly okay! I understand rent is high and the cost of staff is also, but both the management and staff in there were absolutely horrendous. The manager/owner was the most rude person in the store if you can believe it.

Yes, you have a huge market for a store up there. Especially if you have even a small idea about what customer service is. The customer isn't always right, but when they are wrong there's no need to tell them what an idiot they are! LOL :)

BTW There was at one time a lady who opened up a fish store out of her house in Thickwood or Timberlea. She didn't do too well and closed down less than a year after she opened. I can't remember the name of her store at the moment, sorry.

[NorthernCoral]

I understand rent is high and the cost of staff is also, but both the management and staff in there were absolutely horrendous. The manager/owner was the most rude person in the store if you can believe it.


+++++1 Lol when I asked where her liverock was from she refused to tell me. She also wouldn't tell me where her absolutely minimal livestock was from, like I was going to contact her supplier and cut her out of the deal.

[chris88]

the reason there isnt a large backing of people up here is because there isnt a quality pet store to help build the hobby.with a population of 110,000 which is set to double in 5 years there is a huge opportunity. i think someone would have to start it out of thier basdment and slowly grow the backing. after that, move into a small commercial space.

[Jeff000]

Another issue is most of the population is transient and won't commit to a reef tank.

[chris88]

true but with a population of 120,000 and growing fast there should be atleast 3 pet stores. Its the third biggest city in alberta and on route to reach 200,000 in less then 5 years and it will have one dingy poorly run pet store.

[scuba ken]

true but with a population of 120,000 and growing fast there should be atleast 3 pet stores. Its the third biggest city in alberta and on route to reach 200,000 in less then 5 years and it will have one dingy poorly run pet store.


And the majority of transient people there live in camps, there is a huge permenemt base of people there, me for 1, I have lived in FMM for almost 8 years, toyed Witt he idea of setting up a coral world in a garage for the longest of times.

NorthStar pets is bloody disgusting, it's filthy the manager is most certainly the rudest person I have ever spoken to, and the level of knowledge is only 2nd to the Feeder fish who just seem to be there to die .........................

The display tanks are nasty, the prices are crazy and everything you buy comes with its own little disaster waiting to happen.

I bought a sea lone skimmer (emergency) 100 from there for $315.00, they retail for between 85-110$
Rip off ! ! !

[intarsiabox]

According to the Chamber of Commerce the city itself has about 77,000 people which is plenty for a large well stocked pet store. I lived there myself years ago and at the time Northstar was pretty good and the owner was always friendly. Now would a dedicated saltwater store work, I'm not sure. I can already get all of my dry goods cheaper online than locally and shipped directly to my door, salt would be the only exception, so the same already stands for residents of FMM. Livestock would be great to have locally and lack there of is probably why there isn't many reefers there, but I would be concerned about the shipping mortality rates for the winter. Have you found a wholesaler willing to ship there with a guaranteed survival rate of any sort? Prices would also have to be high due to labour and building lease rates but people would probably be OK with that if they didn't want to make the trip to Edmonton with a cooler and heat packs. A large full serviced pet store would probably be a sure money maker but start up cost would be astronomical. You could always test the waters by starting out in your home with livestock and a small selection of dry goods to see if there is an appetite for it and make the jump from there. Good luck!

[scuba ken]

I (and a mate) already import fish direct from international suppliers, we don't do many, but have put several orders through, we were amazed at the prices, the shipping seemed to run at about $1000.00 and that didn't seem to move much regardless of the fish ordered.

Clowns $4
Bi color angels $6
Tangs $4-12 a piece
Clown trigger 2". $9
Blue face angel 2" $14
Juvenile Emporer Angel $10


Corals similar prices

We have sold and ordered fish for friends and work mates, they were fine, the biggest problem we could see was "how do u man a store a d keep working in the oil sands?" there is a way, we are still working those details through.

[Myka]

The wholesale cost of the fish itself isn't the point. You need to factor in that $1000 shipping, plus the permits, then add your markup to that (usually double or triple). That's how the LFS do it. How many fish were in that box? Once you divvy up the shipping cost and permits the landed cost of those fish will be significantly higher than those wholesale prices. The wholesale prices don't matter as much as shipping cost.

Keep in mind the cost of commercial rental in FMM will be through the roof so prices will always be high there - that's just the reality of living in FMM. :D Considering the average income in FMM, a saltwater store could do quite well there...

[intarsiabox]

I (and a mate) already import fish direct from international suppliers, we don't do many, but have put several orders through, we were amazed at the prices, the shipping seemed to run at about $1000.00 and that didn't seem to move much regardless of the fish ordered.

Clowns $4
Bi color angels $6
Tangs $4-12 a piece
Clown trigger 2". $9
Blue face angel 2" $14
Juvenile Emporer Angel $10


Corals similar prices

We have sold and ordered fish for friends and work mates, they were fine, the biggest problem we could see was "how do u man a store a d keep working in the oil sands?" there is a way, we are still working those details through.
That's good, I wasn't sure if international live orders could be flown in directly to Fort Mac now. That makes having a well stocked live goods store more feasible for our northern residents.

[scuba ken]

That's good, I wasn't sure if international live orders could be flown in directly to Fort Mac now. That makes having a well stocked live goods store more feasible for our northern residents.

Ethe fish come into Vancouver, Then into fort mac, we pick up at the airport, we the lay over in Vancouver is somewhat problematic, the 1st shipment we made, was left outside waiting for the next flight, we lost quite a few fish on this shipment, we did recover the costs from the supplier, but then lost out on revenue to offset the shipping costs.

This idea still isn't out of the question, but will take some more planning, the biggest problem we encountered was "how many people in fort mac, are salt water tankers ?". Obviously our main stay couldn't be just Marine fish, we also looked at I porting tanks/set ups and doing the whole service, from set up, maintaining and take down. The real money can be made through offering the whole package, and supplying the fish, rocks, sand, equipment, chemicals, corals and most of all, sou d advice and support.

Even thought of dabbling into the tropical and cold water set ups, a fish emporium for fort mac, would be much easier and cost efficient to operate for 2 hours each evening from a double garage attached to a house, this way display tanks can be "shop props" and also be tax write offs and also be advistments for the business, also have the tax cuts on the garage and utilities being used to support the business, almost be free to support our hobbies ?

Anyway that's as far as we got, the idea is sleeping, not written off yet.

[Myka]

Check out bylaws to see if you can run a retail business out of your garage. The last thing you want is someone coming and shutting down your business after you put a bunch of hard work and money into it.

[scuba ken]

No worries, as I say, some thought but not too much.
The bye laws really say that any home business cannot become a nusciemce to the other neighbours for noise, congestion etc and must not be an illegal activity.

Early days, and more dream than reality.................. But who knows "sea nery" may ne day become more than half a dozen beers and a pizza.

[Saltymac]

Hopping to get some good advise from all the people in the Mac just got a 75 gallon tank as my first and just setting it up all help and advise welcome, more than welcome to pop round the house have some beers and put me on the right tracks, just PM for contact details

[scuba ken]

Hopping to get some good advise from all the people in the Mac just got a 75 gallon tank as my first and just setting it up all help and advise welcome, more than welcome to pop round the house have some beers and put me on the right tracks, just PM for contact details

Some photos ?

Is it a reef tank, fowlr, or a cool mixed reef, or maybe a small predator tank ?

Drop some photos and some specs on here.
Is it cycled yet ? Any fish yet, any corals ?

Sorry just excited, I just took my cube down and transferred the fish to my new set up in st Albert, the "rebuild" of the tank in fmm is going to be reef and only reef, corals and some coral fish, nothing too OTT just peaceful and colourful.

[Saltymac]

Sorry about the crappy iPad picture, but the tank was running for 2 years Neill I bought it from them on Tuesday it's. a 75 gallon half round tank and is my first reef tank.
It came with a Fluval FX5 filter, cheap lights and a power head, also 100 lbs of LR and 60Lbs of LV sand.
It also came with 1clown fish and a star fish, both are doing well both eating and look quite healthy.
I just ordered a sump, protein skimmer and some LEDs of ebay, and an RO/DI system.
I have had it for 4 days and used 70% of the water that the previous owners had and the rest was a fresh batch of treated tap water and salt mix.
I did PH, NITRITE, PHOSPHATE AND CALCIUM tests last night and all is well within acceptable limits.
I want to keep some corals and some colourful fish, just waiting to make sure the tank is ok before I buy corals and add any more fish.

[scuba ken]

Are you going to drill the tank or use a hang on the back overflow ?
If u can go drilled now that would be better, get rid of the fluval 5 as soon as u can set up the sump.
You can s ell it and buy some more equipment.

Love the tank dimensions and the half circle look.
What light would u like ?

[Saltymac]

Using a hang on back overflow, then if in 12 months I'm doing ok in the hobby I'm going to go for a bigger tank may be 220 or so but that will have drilled overflows
I thought I might use the FX5 as a carbon and GFO filter if possible?

I just bought some LEDs that are programmable and have high range of spectrum

[Saltymac]

Only paid $500 for what I got and just bought the rest of he stuff this week just waiting for it to arrive

[scuba ken]

Sounds brilliant.

[Saltymac]

anybody in fort mac got any cheato i could have for my refugium, also after some live rock

[scuba ken]

Don't have any cheato here, and I just took my 90 cube down so most of my live rock in in Edmonton now.

How much rock are u looking for ?

[Saltymac]

Looking for about 50lbs to finish off my DT and put a bit in my refugium that I just built.
Willing to pay but not $8 a pound at LFS


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[steambrewed]

pm'd